Becoming Like Jesus: Understanding the Bible as Story, Covenant, and Relational Transformation

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2017

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How can reading the Bible form us into people who actually look, sound, and live more like Jesus? This episode dives into that powerful question through raw honesty, theological reflection, and practical insights. Mike Erre processes a deeply personal season of anxiety, health struggles, and spiritual battle—and unpacks how Scripture, when engaged relationally instead of merely intellectually, can be a tool of deep transformation.

Recorded after a teaching event with John Mark Comer and Todd Proctor on the practices of Jesus, Mike explores why many of us don't feel spiritually transformed despite decades of Christian practice, and what it means to read the Bible as a relational and covenantal tool that fosters intimacy and “abiding” with Christ. Rather than reading the Bible to "be right" or gather rules, we are invited to read it because we’re already in relationship with Jesus and want to become like Him.

Key Takeaways:
• Reading the Bible Relationally – How Scripture becomes a tool for formation when we read it as part of a covenantal relationship with God, rather than a rulebook or doctrinal manual.
• Jesus as the Box Top – Why Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God and how our interpretation of all Scripture must be filtered through His life, death, and resurrection.
• Transformation Through Attachment – Abiding in Jesus is about relationship, not performance—spiritual growth happens not through formulas or behavior modification, but through intimacy.
• Why Many Christians Feel Unchanged – A critique of “trying harder,” program-based growth, and information overload as false answers to the gap between who we are and who we want to become.
• Living the Story Like Jesus – Understanding the Bible as a unified story we are invited to inhabit—not simply observe or quote—with the goal of embodying Christ.

Resources Mentioned:
• Vanguard University – vanguard.edu
• John Mark Comer – Practicing the Way – practicingtheway.org
• Tim Mackie – The Bible Project – bibleproject.com
• Hebrews and Galatians – Themes of covenant, transformation, and the new humanity through Jesus

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Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everybody, Mike and Andy here coming at you at the from the world Vox headquarters
0:18.1	in Brea, California. We're so grateful to be a part of your life.
0:23.6	And today, today's a bit interesting. We don't know how this is going to go. We've got
0:29.1	Seth Erie, who is home from school today with a bit of the double-ended flu. We, we think it's food poisoning.
0:40.4	So he and our sweet babysitters are upstairs, but we'll see how that goes at keeping him
0:46.6	quiet.
0:48.1	And then I think, Andy, I had the worst panic attack in the history of my life last night.
0:53.5	I was...
0:55.0	So if you don't know, and not that you particularly care, but late January,
1:01.0	had to go to the hospital, found in a regular heartbeat,
1:04.3	was diagnosed with something called atrial fibrillation,
1:07.2	which my heart goes in and out of regular irregular beats.
1:11.7	And it's not the worst heart problem, but it's certainly something.
1:16.2	And then about a month after that diagnosis, I was diagnosed with melanoma, which is the
1:20.9	most aggressive form of skin cancer.
1:22.9	They found a spot in my back and ended up having to cut that out.
1:28.2	And so I had to go into surgery and then and then they had to check lymph nodes.
1:33.4	And, you know, it's just been absolutely crazy.
1:37.0	This scar where they checked the lymph nodes got infected.
1:40.1	So they had to cut it open this week and blah, blah, blah.
1:42.7	Now, on top of that, my brother and my mother have had health scares and potential diagnoses.
1:49.8	And, you know, it's, you know, compared to what some people are going through.
	...

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